In memory of John “Brad” Bradbury of the Specials who topped the charts with Ghost Town whilst Britain burst into flames of riots and racism in 1981 – Colin Revolting remembers how anti – racists danced to the Specials and fought against racism and unemployment.

January

A fire at a house party in New Cross kills 13 teenagers. They are all black and it is believed to be a racist petrol bombing.

April

With some members of my band, I move into a squat on New Cross Road, the same street as the burnt out house. The fire building stands as a monument to the teenagers, the bricks blackened above the gaping holes where the windows were.

On the first evening I go out to make a phone call. New Cross Road is eerily quiet. The pavements are empty, parked in the side streets there are green coaches…